I never expected to become a sports massage therapist. This career path came by accident, literally!
In June of 2021, I was coaching at a local basketball camp with middle school and high school kids. I joined in on a drill with the girls on my morning team. I was playing well the first 5 minutes but things changed pretty quickly.
Standing on the three-point line, I got a pass on and was on my to the basket. I took one step toward the basketball and immediately fell. It felt like someone had thrown a basketball from across the court, right on my calf. I looked up at the girl closest to me and said, “Where the heck did that basketball come from?” The girl I asked was just as confused as I was by my question. The reality was that NOTHING hit me!
Somehow I wasn’t in pain but I knew something wasn’t right. I managed to walk off the court on my own to examine what was going on. With the limited anatomical knowledge I had at the time, I felt around and realized “Oh snap, my Achilles is not there!”
Without going into full panic mode, I got my phone to ask my family to pick me up and take me to Urgent Care. Urgent Care staff assumed I was too calm to have ruptured my Achilles. But, X-rays confirmed it! I found a way to rupture my right Achilles on the 2nd day of camp! The 2nd Day!! As a Coach! NOT a Participant, lol! This basketball camp was the first activity I did outside the house after being in quarantine. To say I was devastated is an understatement.
After receiving my results, I got a ride back to the basketball camp. I wasn’t going back to staring at my walls like I did during quarantine. I enjoyed the rest of the basketball in a wheelchair! However, at home, I spent several days doing the normal things you do after a major injury, I cried “Why me Lord, why me?!”
Even though playing sports was not paying my bills. I was convinced this was the end of my sports career. My love for the game of basketball and every other recreational sport I played was really important to me.
Eventually, after a few weeks, I started to remember that healing from injuries was a real thing and possible for me. I began thinking about what I wanted to do once I got back to my new normal. I was already thinking about making a career change before my injury but my thought process started to shift a little bit from a new corporate marketing job.
I saw a family friend at an event who is a massage therapist. She was telling me about a work trip she had planned the following week providing massages at a competition. I was intrigued!!
I did some searching the next few days about sports injury prevention and recovery careers on the internet. I was so excited to see that sports massage was a thing!
With this career, I would still be involved in the sports world. Plus, I could learn how to help myself recover from my injury. Two months after I had surgery to reattach my Achilles, I was in the classroom starting my journey to becoming a massage therapist.
The path to this career has been unexpected and exciting, to say the least. There have been ups and downs that I don’t even have enough space to include. However, I’ve never regretted my decision to enter this industry. Every time I help a client continue to do the activity/sport they love, it makes me feel like (even though it sucked, big time) my Achilles injury had a beautiful purpose.
2 Responses
I am still shocked this happened to you at such a young age AND you walked off the court on your own! WOW you are incredible. Not to mention a BA massage therapist!
Thank yü!!